Baghdad Agrees to Pay Wages of Kurdistan Regional Government Employees

However, the exact amount of the funds that will be sent to cover salaries has yet to be confirmed.

Date Added
Wed 21st Mar

In a recent report from the Iraqi Government, Baghdad stated they have agreed to pay government salaries for the employees of the Kurdistan Regional Government— a first since 2014. However, the exact amount of the funds that will be sent to cover salaries has yet to be confirmed.

The agreement set forth by Baghdad is however, a step towards stabilizing the often tumultuous and strained relationship between Baghdad and Iraq’s semi-autonomous region that recently had a vote for independence on September 25th, and was immediately halted by Baghdad.

The relationship between Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan reached the height of instability when two significant events occurred in 2014 and marked the collapse of an agreement: When Kirkuk was essentially abandoned by Iraq’s army in the face of IS militants and the Kurds seized control of Iraq’s northern oil fields from Kirkuk and began selling the oil independently from Baghdad. This resulted in Baghdad stopping the transfer of money from the National Budget to Iraqi Kurdistan.

However, now that Kirkuk is entirely controlled by central Baghdad, independent oil sales have largely gone down significantly.